Hirth develops new UAV engine
Hirth Motors has launched a new 15hp 4201 engine for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, the company announced on 11 January.
The air-cooled 4201 engine is a reed valve intake 2-stroke boxer engine with electronic fuel injection (EFI) and advanced closed loop fuel control, and CAN bus or RS485 interface for easy communication with the UAV flight computer. Shielding ECU/harness protects against electromagnetic interference (EMI), there is an optional reduction drive to enable use of a larger propeller to increase thrust, and optional lightweight 1kW starter/generator to provide remote start and air vehicle electrical power.
The engine is available in different variants to enable the choice of gasoline or heavy fuels such as Jet A, JP5 or JP8. Both fuel systems have automatic altitude and temperature compensation enabling reliable start and operation in a wide operating range.
The standard EFI system uses throttle body injection and runs on gasoline; while the heavy fuel engine can be upgraded to Hirth's iPower fuel injection technology which uses compression wave injection to enable spark ignition of heavy fuels. This variant meets NATO's one-fuel policy to eliminate gasoline for safety and logistics reasons.
Siegfried Goebler, CEO, Hirth, said: ‘The 4201 engine continues our expansion efforts to provide additional consumer off the shelf engine solutions for global UAV customers. UAV manufacturers continue to ask us for existing engines and don't have budgets for custom engine development programmes.
‘Hirth has been self-funding research and development efforts and are the leaders in providing off the shelf reliable lightweight UAV engine solutions in the power range from 8hp to 100hp to meet the global demand for this growing market.’
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